Selling Of Hanukkah Debated

RELIGION

The Commercialization Of The Celebration Is Rejected By Some But Embraced By Others.

December 12, 1998|By Michael Kress Religion News Service

Fed up with the ``Christmas-ization'', or commercialization, of Hanukkah, one large Massachusetts synagogue is fighting back.

Even as many American Jews ascribe an inflated importance to Hanukkah to give their children a Jewish alternative to Christmas, Newton's Temple Emanuel, the largest Conservative synagogue in New England, is bucking the tide and playing down the holiday.

Other synagogues may stage major congregational celebrations, but Temple Emanuel's 1,400 member families mark the holiday with low-key, private commemorations at home. Congregational celebrations have been restricted to Judaism's major biblically mandated holidays, such as Passover.

Hanukkah begins at sundown on Sunday and runs eight days, each one marked by the lighting of a corresponding number of candles in a special candelabra called a ``menorah'' or ``Hanukkiah.'' The holiday celebrates the purification of the ancient Jerusalem Temple following the victory of traditionalist Jews - the Maccabees - over the Syrian Greeks who occupied Palestine some 2,200 years ago and sought to eradicate Judaism.

Until recently, Hanukkah celebrations were mostly low-key in keeping with the holiday's minor religious status. Holiday highlights included traditional fried foods associated with the oil used to rekindle the Jerusalem Temple candelabra and a children's game played with a ``dreidel,'' or spinning top, that recalled the Maccabees' victory. Gifts were generally restricted to small amounts of money given to children.

But no more. Today, Hanukkah is a merchandiser's dream. Even synagogues have jumped on the bandwagon, offering ``Hanukkah gift sales'' that have become major fund-raising opportunities.

``People are going to spend money,'' said Rabbi Alan Rabishaw of Stephen S. Wise Temple, a Reform congregation of 3,000 families in Los Angeles. ``The temple is going to make money or Macy's is going to make money. I'd rather the money go to the temple.''

Many American Jews have taken to decorating their homes with blue and white Hanukkah bunting or lights in the manner of Christmas decorations. Hanukkah cards have also become hugely popular.

Hallmark spokesman Michelle Buckley said an estimated 11 million Hanukkah cards will be exchanged in North America this season - an increase of 1 million compared to five years ago. Buckley said Hanukkah has equalled Rosh Hashana - the Jewish New Year and one of Judaism's holiest holidays - in the number of Jewish greeting cards sold.

Gift giving has also exploded. In some Jewish homes, children receive another present on each of Hanukkah's eight days.

Temple Emanuel may turn its back on such grand displays, but other Jews - including those who run Jewish-interest retail operations - say fighting Hanukkah's commercialization is a fruitless rear-guard action.

Offering no apologies, retailers for whom Hanukkah has become a leading source of income insist that failing to cater to the ever-growing Hanukkah market would be financial suicide.

``From a retail point of view, we must cater to trends - otherwise we'd be nuts,'' said Ronna Weinstock, a marketing official at ``The Source for Everything Jewish,'' a mail-order company based in Niles, Ill.

``It [Hanukkah) is an area appealing to interfaith families, interested Christians, as well as traditional and not-so-observant Jewish families ... Hanukkah is one of the major highlights in the American setting ... We try very hard to accommodate all tastes,'' said Weinstock.

But some who profit from holiday sales also say they try to keep Hanukkah's religious theme paramount.

Meyer Eichler, owner of a three-store chain of Jewish-item shops in New York, said he tries not to contribute to trivializing Hanukkah's message of Jewish religious particularism.

Eichler said he sells only those Hanukkah products that do not cross the often fuzzy line separating the holiday's true meaning from secular America's shop-till-you-drop holiday season mindset.

That means Beanie Babies are out at Eichler's stores. But because they have some connection to Judaism, menorahs decorated with Disney characters are in. Likewise, Eichler rejects Hanukkah window lights he thinks too closely resemble Christmas lights. However he does sell electric Hanukkah mobiles that resemble a string of lit dreidels.

America Online's Jewish Community Online also tries to keep Hanukkah commercialism within limits, while acting as an Internet clearinghouse for an extensive array of holiday-connected gift and ritual items.